The images appeared over on the Greek Tizen community website Tizen.gr, with the “About phone” menu showing the codename “Redwood” and the model number being listed as GT-18800. They also reveal that Samsung has implemented S-Voice, S-Beam, and Wi-Fi Direct into the handset, which is a welcomed addition. The operating system is Tizen 2.1.

The handset is slated for release to 500 developers who are taking part in the Tizen Developer Conference, and so it is possible this is a development-only handset that won’t ever be an official, commercially-available phone. No specs on it were revealed except for the resolution of its display, which sits at 720p HD. The images are too dark to see anything about the body of the phone, unfortunately.

As we mentioned, Samsung will reportedly release a Tizen handset this fall, per a statement made by the company’s mobile business Executive Vice President Lee Young Hee at a conference in Seoul. According to Hee, the phone will be “in the the high-end category. The device will be the best product equipped with the best specifications.” No specifics were provided, however.

Such a statement followed a leaked image of a Samsung Tizen smartphone that was imaged back in May 2012, with not much being said about it except that it featured a 720p display and a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM chipset. Such a device wasn’t intended for consumer release, however, being aimed at developers working on Tizen apps.

SOURCE: GSM Arena

The video, which was uploaded on YouTube earlier today by user Ivan Brčić, is said to have been taken at the Thailand Mobile Expo and to feature Android Jelly Bean 4.3. While there’s a brief run through a couple system menus, they’re only seen in passing as the user zeroes in on the camera, which reveals a new user interface. The change isn’t surprising, and is only one of many updates and alterations we’re expecting to see.

Although many had hoped Google would show off Android 4.3 at its 2013 I/O event earlier this month, that alas was not the case, and we still have no official word from the Internet giant about what its plans include in the update from Jelly Bean 4.2 to 4.3. As such, this video is a nice look into what the near future holds for Android users, even if it does focus on only the camera.

While the current Jelly Bean camera interface is certainly usable, the one featured in the video looks altogether more intuitive, with dragging to enable the various options that you can check out in the video for yourself. We get a brief look at HDR info, some new icons, and a new timer feature, as well as a few others. This builds on the current tap for settings and hold for a circle of options.

Likewise, some pictures were also released earlier today of the alleged operating system running on a Nexus 4. It is the same handset shown in the attached video, but gives a short look at aspects of the mobile OS other than the camera interface. Included in the images is a shot of the “About Phone” screen, which confirms both phone mode and Android version. The images were released over on XDA.

SOURCE: Android Community

The changes will start with the lockscreen, which has apparently lost its glossy, semi-transparent time and date pane and replaced it with a solid black bar, while the PIN code keypad has been supposedly updated with black, round buttons with simple white text and borders.

Notifications have changed too, it’s said, both in the lockscreen – where there are believed to be new gesture controls – and in the drop-down notification pane, which will be white text on black and include shortcut controls for commonly-accessed settings such as airplane mode, in addition to new widget-style panes.

The iOS 7 homescreen will reportedly gain panoramic wallpapers, as on Android phones and tablets, and the iconography lose the lighting effect in favor of flatter graphics.

However, while previous leaks suggested Apple could push back updating some of its core apps in iOS 7 so as to finish up the UI changes, potentially staggering the refresh into early 2014, the new sources claim WWDC 2013 will see just about every aspect of the platform modified. The new app icons will each have a different key color, carried through into the apps themselves: “a white base with a respective color theme” as 9to5Mac describes it.

The overarching theme will be flatness, it’s said, with Apple’s designers supposedly more comfortable with the idea of leaving backgrounds as plain white, rather than using some sort of texture image. That will extend to Mail, Calendar, Maps, Messages, and Notes, among others, though the exact degree of changes is said to vary. Those most modified will include Safari, the Camera app, Weather, the App Store, Newwstand, and Game Center, it’s said.

According to multiple leaks, it’s all-hands-on-deck within Apple to get iOS 7 ready in time for WWDC 2013 next month. The company has apparently shifted coders from the Mac OS X team to the iOS division, so as to address all the changes Ive has been instrumental in pushing, though it’s said that the goal is now to get the iPhone version finished first before the iPad version.

Ive’s goal for the iOS 7 changes is apparently to reduce the speed at which he fears the platform will date. Insiders at the firm have said that the designer has been increasingly present across all software department meetings, often only listening to the topics of discussion, but generally involving himself far more in iOS design than in previous iterations.

That strategy has potential. iOS’ interface has seen relatively little change since it was first revealed on the original iPhone, and while the decisions Apple took at the time – to ease users into the concept by borrowing physical metaphors like yellow legal pads for Notes, complete with torn paper edges – may have helped make it one of the most approachable platforms, they’re seeing increasing criticism since many users have never encountered the real-world equivalents of the design.

Meanwhile rival software like Microsoft’s Windows Phone and the latter versions of Google’s Android have followed more “authentically digital” paths for their appearance, which has led to suggestions that iOS is comparatively dated. Nonetheless, given the large – and vocal – userbase familiar with iOS and the idea that they can upgrade their iPhone or iPad from one year to the next without having to re-learn how to use them, Apple must tread a careful line not to throw out that familiarity along with the chintz.

We’ll be at WWDC 2013 to see all the changes Apple has made, and will be liveblogging the opening keynote on Monday, June 10.

The retailers claim that Microsoft has begun briefings this week on how the trade-in situation will be run, since it will be more complex than the existing process for Xbox 360 discs. According to the store chatter, Microsoft will require each retailer wanting to deal in pre-owned games to integrate its systems with an Azure-based cloud database, which will keep track of which titles Xbox One gamers have registered.

When a gamer wishes to trade in a game, it will be logged on the Microsoft database and removed from their account. The Xbox One will be required to check into Microsoft’s servers at least once every 24hrs, with sold titles automatically deauthorized from where they’ve been installed on the console’s hard drive.

By running all transactions through the cloud system, Microsoft and the publisher of the game will automatically get a percentage of the resale figure. Exactly what that cut will be – and what price the retailers will be selling the games for – is unclear; MCV’s sources indicate that stores will be able to set their own figures, but Console Deals‘ sources suggest that Microsoft will permit at most a 10-percent discount from the game’s recommended retail price (RRP).

Microsoft has declined to comment specifically on any of the possible systems for used games sales. “While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail” the company told MCV. “Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios.”

Nonetheless, if the leaks are true, the policies are unlikely to meet with a positive reaction from gamers and – as Don Reisinger wrote earlier this week – could give some cause to rethink upgrading to the new console. Microsoft has said that there won’t be a cost involved if you take a game to play on a friend’s Xbox One, as long as you are logged in with your own Xbox LIVE profile; however, you will not be able to loan them the game (to play registered to their own profile), as there will be a fee involved to unlock it.

Tackling the pre-owned games market – and, more importantly perhaps, monetizing it – has been one of the key goals with next-gen consoles. Sony has also confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will support used games, but is also yet to detail the process around that, and whether it will follow a similar approach to that which Microsoft is rumored to be following.

“OLED on silicon may be used for glasses-type, augmented-reality devices much like the Google Glass” CEO Kim Ki-nam said during a SID keynote this past week. “The wearable market will be a major beneficiary of the free-form factor advantage of flexible OLEDs. Smartphone-linked wearable accessory products such as watches and health bands will use ultra-thin flexible OLEDs embedded with various sensors.”

Samsung has been talking up the potential of flexible OLED for some time, though is yet to commercially deploy the technology. That’s been promised for 2013 under the YOUM brand, however, slightly delayed after Samsung was apparently forced to dedicate the bulk of its production facility to making traditional AMOLED screens for devices like the Galaxy series of smartphones.

Back at CES, the company brought a number of concepts along, some using flexible OLED technology. There, the panels didn’t actively flex, but were instead wrapped around the shell of a device mock-up, and intended for use as an always-on status panel.

The current Glass Explorer Edition, which Google has sold to a limited number of developers for real-world testing and app development, uses a small plastic eyepiece into which the image is projected. Exact technical specifications for the display technology itself have not been shared, though it’s believed to be something along the lines of a transmissive color filter panel backlit with an LED in the headset section, near the camera module.

Switching to OLED would mean Google could do away with the separate LED backlighting, since OLED pixels produce their own lighting. It seems likely that Google would still use the wave splitter eyepiece block, since that allows the “floating” display to be translucent, though it’s worth noting that Samsung has been showing off translucent OLED panels for several years, and has in fact commercialized them on a small scale.

Either way, it would likely be a more compact setup than what is used in the Explorer Edition, as well as potentially more power-frugal. That could make for a lighter, longer-running Glass, something Google has said are key objectives for the consumer version.

Exactly when the mass-market Glass will launch is unclear, though Google chairman Eric Schmidt did suggest that sometime in 2014 is likely. Similarly unknown is how much it will retail for, though Google has been clear that it aims to make the wearable far more affordable than the $1,500 developer version.

VIA: AndroidBeat

As HTC has complained about before, it’s getting sufficient stock that is primarily holding the One back, the executive continues. “Orders are pretty good so far and are still more than what we can supply” the source suggests. “This is partly due to the shortage of components. When the issue is resolved next month, we will have a better idea if it’s doing really well or not.”

Production is set to double this month HTC has already claimed, and April sales figures showed a reassuring upward turn, believed to be primarily down to One performance. The phone was originally intended to release in eighty countries by the end of Q1 2013, but issues sourcing components for the “UltraPixel” camera, among other things, saw that limited to just a handful of locations.

That hasn’t stopped HTC from making bold predictions for Q2. Revenue for the current quarter is expected to reach around NT$70bn ($2.4bn), the company has said, an increase of almost a billion US dollars.

Still, the 5m figure pales somewhat compared to Samsung’s sales figures for its Galaxy S 4. Earlier today, Samsung confirmed that 10m of the latest Galaxy flagships had been sold – though it’s worth noting that Samsung’s numbers count sales to operators and retailers, not to end-users – in the first month of the device’s availability.

Meanwhile, the other phone HTC had high hopes for, the HTC First, has not seen the success expected. Sales are said to have underwhelmed, and sources have even claimed that the First – which runs Facebook Home, a replacement Android launcher focused on information from the social network – was scuppered by Facebook itself, after a last-minute change in strategy that saw the launcher released free in the Google Play market in the same week that the smartphone arrived on AT&T.

Kodera and Gordon are the latest in a number of staff leaving HTC. Global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland left the company in April after more than four and a half years, joining Microsoft as the company’s new visual merchandizing manager; similarly, Eric Lin, who had been product manager at HTC, jumped ship to Microsoft and the Skype team. Worldwide director of digital marketing John Starkweather is another recent departure, now responsible for social and digital marketing at AT&T.

A reshuffle in how HTC makes its strategy decisions could be part of the reason behind the shake-up, it’s suggested, with the company shifting product planning to the Taipei HQ and potentially leaving the Seattle office out of the loop. CEO Peter Chou – who has bet his job on the success of the One – is also said to be a source of frustration, deeply immersed in strategy and product design, and making over-arching decisions with little consultation with the executive team.

However, for whatever internal issues HTC might have, problems with partners also shoulder some share of the blame. According to The Verge’s sources, Facebook had previously intended to release its Home Android launcher at a later date, giving the the HTC-made First smartphone exclusivity in the market. That has led – in part – to reportedly underwhelming sales, with AT&T increasing its subsidy in an apparent attempt to stimulate some demand.

Nonetheless, HTC’s future is about more than just a few high-profile staff looking elsewhere for their next challenge. The company has apparently pushed through its HTC One production issues, with output said to double this month alone, and the unaudited sales figures from April indicated that demand for the flagship was certainly there. HTC has been pushing ahead with cost-cutting, too, axing little-used services like HTC Watch in less popular locations.

The overarching problem remains how HTC can compete with its key Android rival, Samsung, which has a vast marketing budget and a range of phones that appears to grow with new variants every week. Samsung’s tightly integrated supply chain and brand recognition – not to mention its hardware, software, and services ecosystem, which it can afford to highlight with schemes like the media-sharing App Challenge with its $800,000 bounty – make it the company to beat in Android, and HTC’s current strategy of pinpointing key areas with targeted One promotion is yet to demonstrate convincing results.

Update: HTC gave us the following statements, and confirmed that Scott Croyle, VP of Design, will be taking over Kouji Kodera’s duties:

“HTC can confirm that Jason Gordon has left the company. We appreciate his contributions in the past several years and wish him well on his future endeavors. HTC continues to invest in talent and recruitment as part of our broader human resources strategy to ensure the continued strength of our company’s organizational structure.”

“Kouji Kodera has left HTC to pursue other interests. We appreciate his contributions and wish him all the best. Scott Croyle will take over his duties.”

The video is short, but it does at least give us a little more of a view of the new phone. There are also some extra details on specifications, which counter previous indications that the S 4 Active would basically put identical hardware to the Galaxy S 4 into a new body.

Instead, the Active version is said to have a more humble processor and camera than its sibling. The chip is tipped to be a 1.9GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 Plus, from Qualcomm’s stable, while the camera is believed to be an 8-megapixel model rather than the 13-megapixels of the S 4.

Whether that will make a difference to everyday use is arguable, though it does likely mean that Samsung will position the handset underneath, rather than alongside, the existing flagship.

It’s not the only variant on the Galaxy S 4 we’re expecting in the near future, however. A goof in Samsung’s changelog for the WatchON remote control app revealed support for not only the S4 Active but the S4 Mega and the S4 mini. They’re expected to be larger and smaller versions of the phone, though when they’ll be officially announced is unclear.

VIA: Engadget

The demo animation on the sparse Square Cash site shows an example transaction, with one person sending a $25 payment to a friend in return for drinks at dinner. The concept appears to be a more individual approach to mobile money than the business Square is best known for, where an iPhone or iPad dongle is used to swipe credit or debit cards, and intended for merchants to process payments from general customers.

Instead, Square Cash appears to work more like PayPal or Cenmo, or indeed Google’s recent integration of Google Wallet into Gmail. There, Gmail users can send payments to friends by simply clicking a button in their email inbox.

Just as with those other services, Square Cash requires that both users be signed up to begin with. Then, transactions are sent directly between debit cards; the sender uses their regular email account to send a message with the sum involved in the subject line, and as long as they CC Square Cash in the email, the money is exchanged.

The recipient gets a similar email, with a link they can click to approve the exchange. Until that link is clicked, the sender can cancel the payment; there’s a $0.50 cost per payment, charged to the sender.

That’s slightly higher than Google’s minimum fee of $0.30 – based on a 2.9-percent processing fee – but if you’re sending more than around $17.58 then Square’s set cost works out cheaper.

There’s no telling when Square Cash will launch publicly, and the company itself is giving little away.

VIA: TechCrunch

That update – to the remote control software Samsung uses to turn its phones and tablets into universal remotes – name-checked not only the Galaxy S 4 Active but two other handsets. Version 5.0.4 of the software now has support for the S4 Mega and S4 mini, according to this screenshot from SamMobile; Samsung since updated the changelog to remove any mention of the unannounced phones.

Judging by the AnTuTu benchmarking results run on the Galaxy S 4 Active (GT-I9295) handset in the wild, the phone sticks closely to the pattern already set by the Galaxy S 4. There’s a 1920 x 1080 Full HD display running at 480 dpi along with Adreno 320 graphics; according to the person who shot the photos, it’s a 5-inch device, too.

In fact, the big change is expected to be in how the phone is put together. Rather than the much-criticized plastic casing of the existing Galaxy S 4, the Active version is believed to use metal. There’s also talk of a special waterproof coating to protect against splashes, with Samsung tipped to be relying on the P2i nano-coating which makes even the circuitboards water-resilient.

As for the S4 mini, a good guess would be a smaller version – likely with pared back specifications – of the regular S4. Samsung has already tried this once before, with the Galaxy S III Mini, though the underwhelming specifications made it more of a name cash-in rather than a true shrunken version of the flagship.

Finally, the S4 Mega presumably sees the regular S4 head in the other direction, getting even bigger. That could mean a bigger display – though that would be getting close to the size of the Galaxy Note II, which itself may be getting larger in its third generation expected to launch later in the year – or it might mean a larger battery. Alternatively, Samsung might step up to 5.5-inches and, since it would presumably lack a stylus, more closely compete with the LG Optimus G Pro.

For instance, the Galaxy S 4′s enhanced voice controls are apparently being brought back to the Galaxy S III, building on the S Voice functionality Samsung first revealed on that handset. In fact, the whole new S Voice app is carried across, as are the two new screen modes: Adapt Display and Professional Photo.

The S 4′s lockscreen is included, with support for multiple widgets, a size-adjustable clock, and two new unlock effects. There’s also a new settings UI, which matches that of the S 4.

Some of the changes are more aesthetic than anything else. There’s a new driving mode and the gallery now gets a white background; Samsung’s own apps now run full-screen, and there’s a new Smart Switch widget.

Meanwhile, the other changes are of Google’s own doing, given this is the new version of Jelly Bean. So, the Galaxy S III will get the Daydream screensaver mode, along with tweaks to the notifications drop-down, including actionable alerts.

Still on the table are the Galaxy S 4′s camera tweaks – which we covered in our review – with no news on whether Samsung will keep features like picture-in-picture photos and videos to the latest handset, or roll them back into the older device. Those decisions could well change before the official release date, which is expected to be sometime next month.

Some of the strategies for extra console “stickiness” Microsoft considered involved making sure the new Xbox was always involved in whatever the gamer’s TV might be showing at the time. One possibility apparently worked on was an HD input on the Xbox, which could be used to input signals from a cable or satellite box and then overlay Microsoft’s content on top.

That – a similar strategy to what Google used with the early Google TV boxes – could then be used to flash up Xbox-related news and notifications on top of regular TV. So, the sources suggest, gamers could challenge their friends to a multiplayer match, with the alert showing up on top of broadcast television.

The system could also be used to further break down the walls between live content, whether from cable or another source, and on-demand content and gaming served up by the next-gen Xbox, it was claimed. Microsoft even whipped up DVR functionality for one prototype version of the console, but “has been wary of including it” because of concerns that it might negatively impact current partnerships with content owners.

Such fears haven’t, apparently, affected Microsoft’s arch gaming rival, however. Sony has offered a TV tuner, the torne, and a DVR accessory, the nasne, for the PlayStation 3 for some years now, though only in Japan.

In fact, Microsoft supposedly went one stage further than a heavily-integrated console, and developed a full Xbox TV. The likelihood of such an all-in-one reaching the market seems low, however, given the commoditization of TVs, and the fact that – over the typical multi-year life cycle of a console – Microsoft would probably have to more frequently update its screen technology.

Meanwhile, there’s also chatter around streaming gaming, another topic Sony has confirmed will be integrated in some way into the PS4. Microsoft’s strategy on cloud gaming – though still a work-in-progress, the tipsters say – is more cautious, apparently, with concerns that the cost of infrastructure might prove unwieldy, while the potential for underwhelming and frustrating gamers with slower internet connections raised fears about the possibility of a negative backlash.

Any eventual implementation of cloud gaming on the Xbox 720 could start off in more humble ways, ensuring backward-compatibility with existing Xbox 360 titles. According to previous rumors, the new AMD-based architecture of the incoming console won’t be natively compatible with that of the 360, and one possible workaround to that is allowing upgrading gamers to stream their old titles running on a remote server.

Exactly which elements of these features – if any – will make it to the production console is unknown at this stage. However, a more accurate Kinect motion-controller seems more than likely, though talk of 3D glasses that could add augmented reality-style gameplay to titles is perhaps somewhat more shaky. Microsoft is known to be working on IllumiRoom, a projection system which expands gameplay and other home entertainment beyond the confines of the TV for more a immersive experience, but the company has said it won’t be ready in time for the Xbox 720 release.

Microsoft is due to announce the new Xbox on Tuesday, May 21, though the first big games announcement will take place at E3 in June. Previous talk has indicated a November release date, with the possibility of both outright purchase and a subsidized model, similar to those of cellphones, where the console would be cheaper but gamers would be tied into a two-year Xbox LIVE GOLD subscription.

That will mean cross-platform support for both the existing console and its replacement. Messaging systems will work on both models, apparently, allowing gamers to communicate whether they have the 360 or the next-gen model, while beacons and achievements will also supposedly be supported across the board.

The change in the Xbox dashboard will also see the Xbox Points system deprecated, as has previously been rumored, with new currency and gift cards used in its stead.

As for when all this will happen, the first signs could be as early as next month. The initial public beta will take place either late in June or in early July, the sources suggest; assuming all works as expected, that should be followed by the final update in August.

Speculation about the new Xbox – which has colloquially been referred to as the “Xbox 720″ – has been rampant over the past twelve months, particularly in the period since Sony announced the first details of its PlayStation 4 earlier this year. Exactly what hardware will be included is uncertain, though there has been chatter of a smaller overall device with mandatory Kinect motion-gaming control and redesigned gamepads.

Nonetheless, there have been notes of caution from industry insiders, warning that the days of blockbuster game-dedicated consoles may be behind us. Earlier this month, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick warned investors that both the Xbox 720 and the PS4 could face the same sort of gamer apathy that Nintendo has encountered with the Wii U, sales of which have proved underwhelming.

As Kotick sees it, mobile and casual gaming – such as might be played on a smartphone or tablet – has made significant inroads into the segment overall, and that will make for a far tougher market for the next-gen consoles to break into. “We continue to face the uncertainties of the console transition” Kotick told investors.

More details will become clear when Microsoft makes its first public announcement about Xbox 720 this coming week, with an event on May 21 expected to see some – though unlikely all – of the console’s features revealed.

Thanks to an eagle-eyed reader we’re getting the first official details, specs, and pictures of what is called the Hisense Sero 7 Pro. This tablet aims to deliver Nexus 7 like performance to the masses for only $99, and will be hitting retailers like Walmart shortly. According to our tipster, it’s already for sale extremely early at some select Walmart stores.

The Hisense Sero 7 Pro is a pretty impressive tablet in every sense of the word, especially given the price. You’ll be enjoying a 7-inch 1280 x 800 IPS HD display, and quad-core power thanks to NVIDIA‘s Tegra 3 clocked at 1.3 GHz. The same as the Nexus 7. You’ll enjoy 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, but hey, unlike the Nexus 7 this has a micro-SD slot. Oh and it also sports a mini-HDMI out port as well. Two things sorely missing from ASUS and Google’s Nexus 7.

That isn’t all this has going for it either. The Hisense Sero 7 Pro not only runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean, but it also rocks two cameras. A 5 megapixel rear (with LED flash) and 2 megapixel front facing camera. You’ll enjoy the usual WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and sensors, as well as NFC and a 4,000 mAh battery. So basically everything you’ll get from the Nexus 7, plus 4 or 5 things we wish it had like cameras and micro-SD, all for only $99.

Hisense has been popular in China with their well-rounded tablets, and it looks like the same is about to be true here in the US. The company, Hisense, sells some TVs and other things here in the states but this is their first tablet to officially go on sale. According to our reader, who has the tablet in hand after purchasing it from a local Walmart, said the link to their US tablet site doesn’t even work. Claiming it says www.hisense-usa.com/tablets on the box, which at the time of writing isn’t an active page. Their new slate just cleared the FCC in late April, and shouldn’t be available for sell yet, but we’d recommend you run down to your nearest Walmart and try to snag on up before they sell out.

With those specs, that design and build quality, all for $99 we expect this tablet to do quite well. Running the latest version of Android and having full access to the Google Play Store doesn’t hurt either.
Update: Reports have confirmed the price is actually $149, and the Hisense Sero 7 lite will be $99. Still not bad for the same features and more compared to the Nexus 7.

– Thanks Selim for the tip

Unfortunately there are no test photos, so we don’t know what the Google H840 looks like. The report suggests it was tested with a USB-connected Dell monitor, though that’s presumably to access either the LCD’s USB hub or its memory card slot, since that particular model doesn’t support video input over USB.

Anything else is, at this stage, speculative, though given the launch of Google Play Music All Access this past week at I/O, some sort of Sonos-style streaming box would seem an obvious guess. That could be hooked up to a set of external speakers or alternatively have onboard speakers and amplification.

Google isn’t the only company tipped to be working on a streaming media device. Earlier this month, it was rumored that Amazon’s hardware lab is developing a wireless audio adapter which could be used with its own cloud music locker service.

The Google H840 would presumably be a more focused device than the Nexus Q, which was unveiled at I/O in 2012 and then swiftly killed off as market feedback proved uncertain. The orb-shaped streamer was intended to funnel YouTube videos, music, and other content direct to a TV, with communal playlist control from multiple Android-powered phones and tablets.

However, a combination of high price – partly because Google intended it to be manufactured in the US – and confusing purpose meant the Nexus Q project was axed. Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Google would not be officially supporting the streamer with the All Access subscription music jukebox service.

The H840 (its H2G2-42 product code a combination of the fan abbreviation for Hitchhiker’s Guide and the “meaning of life”: the number 42) looks to be the second attempt at the market, though when Google will actually unveil it officially remains to be seen.

VIA: TabletGuide

Tumblr has become the darling of the youth blog market, with its straightforward reblogging system and easy page customization making it both immediate and addictive. The site has found particular favor for those sharing photos and videos, with Tumblr claiming to have 107.8m blogs comprising 50.6bn posts.

However, the site has also struggled to manage the growing amount of adult content that is shared and re-shared, and has been criticized for relying on an opt-out policy for blogs with such themes to remove themselves from search results where underage users might see that content. Back in January, the official Tumblr app for iOS was updated with a 17+ age rating, in a move that was seen to be pre-emptively guarding against rejection from Apple over in-app content concerns.

Yahoo can apparently see beyond all that, the sources suggest, and the site’s fledgling use of advertising – predominantly inserting sponsored content into the main dashboard as users scroll through content from blogs they subscribe to – is also seen as promising. Last year, Tumblr suggested it expected to see advertising revenues in the order of $100m in 2013.

That could be the value Yahoo brings to the deal, wielding a much larger, established advertising team that could more thoroughly monetize Tumblr’s content. How that would sit with existing users is unclear at this stage; previous changes to the site have met with no small amount of resistance. Yahoo has a mixed track-record in how it handles acquisitions, too; its most recent three purchases were instantly shut down, something which could be a cause for concern for avid Tumblr users.

The Tumblr negotiations are described as “fluid” though at least one source suggested that a final agreement could be inked as soon as this weekend. That might not amount to a full acquisition, however; other possibilities include a close partnership between the two, as Yahoo attempts to duck under Tumblr’s “cool halo” and increase its userbase among the 18-24 demographic.

It’s said that the latest iPhone will look practically identical to the iPhone 5, similar to how the iPhone 4S had the same design as the iPhone 4, but the iPhone 5S is suggested to be getting a major internal redesign in order to pack in even more features, including a rumored fingerprint scanner that could be built right into the Home button.

Boy Genius Report has obtained a few high-resolution photos of what are said to be parts going into the iPhone 5S. These include the loud-speaker bracket, ear speaker bracket, vibrating motor assembly, WiFi ribbon cable, and the SIM card tray. Overall, there’s nothing too special about these parts other than a slight redesign in them to make them a bit smaller.

However, photos of two different SIM card trays reveals something interesting. BGR points out that not only is the SIM card tray smaller than the iPhone 5S, but the photo includes two trays that are different colors, which could suggest that the next-generation iPhone will come in different color variety. Of course, this could also just be for the two different colors of the aluminum band that’s on the iPhone 5S, where the black model has a black band, and the white model has a silver band.

These parts don’t tell us much other than the fact that they’ve been slightly redesigned. However, if the iPhone 5S body is staying the same, the only reason for redesigned internals is to make room for something else, and that something else could be a variety of things, including the aforementioned fingerprint scanner or even NFC. The iPhone 5S is rumored to launch in August, and it’s expected that iOS 7 will be revealed at WWDC next month. Stay tuned!

SOURCE: Boy Genius Report

“The most comprehensive map, now built for you” Google describes the new system, with a “tailored map for every search and click you make.” There’s also a new search box, which now floats on top of the map rather than living at the top of the screen as per the current version, and which expands to accommodate other search results like ratings, reviews, and whether there is other mapping data available for a location, such as indoor floorplans.

Google has also apparently baked more of its location-based services into the core Maps view. That includes Google Earth – which, in WebGL-compliant browsers, is directly integrated so can be viewed without needing to install a plugin first – and Flight Search.

As for navigation directions, the new Google Maps will now show all different methods of transportation on the same map simultaneously. That means the driving route will be shown alongside any public transportation options, such as trains or subways, and presumably – for shorter journeys – the route to take on-foot if you’re up for the exercise.

So far so UI refresh, but it’s the ability of the maps to tailor themselves to individual users’ that could be the most interesting part of the reworked version. “As you search the map, star places you like and leave reviews,” Google explains, “the map starts to adapt and can suggest things like restaurants you might enjoy or the quickest way home.”

Whether Google intends to transfer those features over to the mobile version of Google Maps is unstated, though given Android has its own predictive assistant technology in the shape of Google Now, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this learning system start pinging out more proactive suggestion cards in the near future.

Google is almost certain to announce and fully detail the new Google Maps at I/O, which kicks off in San Francisco later today.

Nokia’s teaser video yesterday – which debuted during a UK TV commercial – showed the back of the smartphone, complete with the tagline “More than your eyes can see.” That led to expectations that it would bear a large-resolution sensor, the camera itself protruding slightly from the back-panel of the phone.

Nokia new Lumia teaser:

This new image, however, shows the other side of the smartphone. It’s a more sober device than previous Lumia, more akin in color scheme to the Lumia 928 unveiled for Verizon’s network last Friday, than the bright hues of more widespread models like the Lumia 920.

According to previous rumors, the Lumia 925 will have a metal body rather than polycarbonate plastic, though it’s hard to tell whether that’s the case from this leaked shot. It certainly looks to be thinner than the Lumia 920, which was criticized by many for its chunky casing that accommodated the optical image stabilization system to go with the 8.7-megapixel camera.

Exactly how many megapixels the Lumia 925 will offer is unclear. Some have speculated that the phone is the device so-far known by the codename “EOS“, and expected to have an 808 PureView-like huge megapixel sensor. Other rumors have indicated the 925 is more likely to be the “Catwalk“, which is tipped to have a more mainstream camera but a slender, higher-quality body.

We’ll know more tomorrow, when Nokia takes the stage in London, UK, and reveals all. SlashGear will be there to bring back all the details.

The Play Services system is the underlying Android component which all games will be able to tap into, allowing them to share a single notifications path, multiplayer gamer matching, leaderboards and achievements records, and more. Unsurprisingly, the multiplayer duties are shared with Google+, with the social network’s circles used to manage who can invite you to play a game, whose achievements you see, and who your own achievements are shared with.

Meanwhile, there’s also synchronized saved games, meaning if you have a favorite you play on both your Android phone and tablet, you should be able to pick up where you left off on either. Similarly, there are various achievements and leaderboards, with a number of icons to flag top scores and the ability to sort by recent play, by your own position in the charts, and more. All can be pushed over to Google+ to publicize your success.

Currently, the new service isn’t fully functional, leading to suggestions that there could be another, potentially user-facing app which works in conjunction with the background system. That would presumably be the equivalent of iOS’ Game Center app, with its hub of scores and various lobbies for handling multiplayer and gamer-matching based on skill level.

The Android gaming ecosystem has expanded considerably in the past year. Last May, Google was tipped to be working on a Game Center alternative, while even earlier the Google+ team was confirmed to be collaborating with developers on social games for the Facebook competitor.

Several Kickstarter projects have sought to reboot classic titles for Android and other mobile platforms, most recently seeing 90s favorite Carmageddon relaunch after having raised more than $600,000 on the crowdfunding site. Meanwhile, dedicated Android-based gaming hardware has also grown in popularity: OUYA was another Kickstarter success, for instance, while this past week BlueStacks revealed GamePop, a compact games console that borrows the Netflix-style subscription model for title access.

Both OUYA and GamePop have been forced to create their own gaming system on top of Android, to some extent, but with the new Play Games structure, Google could considerably streamline that process for other hardware developers. The system has potential beyond just Android phones and tablets, too; Google TV boxes could instantly become Xbox and PlayStation rivals, with support for second-screen play turning mobile devices into controllers and private status monitors. A hook into Chrome, meanwhile, could bring the system to the desktop and to Chromebooks.

That would leave plenty of room for innovation in pricing. Google could follow BlueStacks’ example with an all-you-can eat gaming subscription, perhaps, with a set monthly fee promising access to hundreds of premium titles across as many devices as are registered to the same account.

We’ll undoubtedly hear more about Google Play Games at I/O this coming week; SlashGear will be there to bring back all the news as it happens.

This device has been suggested to be tagged also with the name Nexus 5 – that implying that it’d take the place of the current LG-made Nexus 4 device on the market right this minute. One rather important point against this possibility is the slightly larger photo of the device that’s been leaked with an LG logo at the bottom of it. If this device were, in fact, headed for a Google release, it’d have no branding up front at all.

This device has also been tipped – and seems to check out – with a 5.5-inch display with 1080p resolution. This device could very well be a new variant or an upgrade of the LG Optimus G Pro, that coming forth with a very similar display up front but a bit thicker body behind.

Because the LG Optimus G Pro is sill relatively new, on the other hand, it does make the most sense that this would be the long-awaited follow-up to the original Optimus G. This upgrade would place its screen between the original Optimus G and the Optimus G Pro and would upgrade processor power to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, just like what’s found in the Optimus G Pro, HTC One, and Samsung GALAXY S 4.

This device, while suggested to be coming with a Google push for their developer conference next week at Google I/O 2013, will much more likely be appearing the week after, at its earliest. There LG can avoid any entanglements in news blasts for the week from the conferences goings-on.

Meanwhile the LG Optimus G Pro launches on AT&T in the United States today – we’ve got our LG Optimus G Pro review ready for you to have a gander at if you feel so inclined as well. This device should very well lead the way to the Optimus G2 which may be coming presently.

SOURCE: Evleaks

In fact, Google CEO Larry Page is said to be responsible for killing off the card plans, something he’s believed to have been skeptical about for some time. Page “felt it did not press forward innovation as payments startups like Square have done” AllThingsD’s sources claim.

The demise of the Google Wallet credit card hasn’t just shaken up Google IO next week, but staffing within the company. Head of Google Wallet Osama Bedier was confirmed to have left the company yesterday, “pushed out” it’s said in favor of shifting the division into the ads and commerce team. Sridhar Ramaswarmy is now directly in charge of Wallet.

Although the physical card won’t see the light of day, for a while if ever, that’s not to say Google Wallet is going anywhere. The system will be updated with new rewards, offers, and loyalty points, it’s said, with more merchants coming on-board to accept the NFC payments. What won’t be happening any time soon is integration with Google Now, though, with the teams described as “siloed” in a way which has prevented data sharing.

Google had supposedly gone so far as to bake physical card support into the new Google Wallet app, and prototypes of the cards had already been produced. As per a usual card, they included a magnetic stripe and raised numbers; despite suggestions that Google would launch its own bank, the actual project was to partner with existing banks, and source behavioral data around shopping patterns through third-parties, rather than directly from Visa and MasterCard.

The set-top box is said to have been designed several times by now, and the latest ones that made it into prototype mode reportedly have support for Kinect, enabling voice and motion control of the system. The device would, in addition, work in conjunction with Microsoft’s other devices and offerings, such as the Xbox and mobile Windows devices.

The sources went on to say that work is being done on the development side to make it simple for developers to create content for the device, including having instructed its development teams to create programs with Microsoft-created coding standards. The goal, says the sources, is for developers to have a simple way to write software for use across the company’s many devices.

Such a rumor comes at a time when Microsoft is readying the launch of the next-generation Xbox, the same thing Sony is doing, with the PlayStation 4 slated to go on sale in time for the holidays. As we’ve previously noted, however, the consoles present a bit of uncertainty, with some feeling that they might not live up to expectations. Microsoft declined commenting on the rumor.

[via Wall Street Journal]

“Using retina-tracking technology, images on the smartphone would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles” the insiders claim. “Users may be able to navigate through content using just their eyes.”

That’s only one of a number of smartphones Amazon is working on, with at least two tipped to reach the market. Fewer details are known about the second phone, which is known – alongside the other hardware – as Project A, B, C, and D within Lab126. The clandestine development is internally referred to as the “Alphabet Projects” its said.

As for the the media-streamer, that’s said to be an audio-only product, and could potentially be similar to a Sonos. Interestingly, despite previous rumors in April about Amazon working on a set-top box through which it would deliver streaming media such as on-demand Amazon Prime video, this musical product is said to be a different project.

In fact, Amazon is apparently looking to hardware on a grand scale, though the sources did also suggest that any or all of the projects could be axed before they actually reach the marketplace. That could be down to financial or other concerns, they suggest, or simply deciding that the smartphones and other devices aren’t ready for prime-time.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise to hear that Amazon is flirting with new products, particularly in mobility. The company’s ambitions in the smartphone space have been widely-rumored since before even the Kindle Fire tablets were released, with Amazon expected to use a heavily-customized version of Android tailored to suit its digital media sales ambitions.

As for the media streamer possibility, with Amazon already having an MP3 download store, and the Amazon Cloud Player service streaming content from the online locker to users’ smartphones, funneling it instead to home audio equipment doesn’t seem too far fetched. In that case, Amazon’s tablets and potential smartphone could then become a touchscreen remote, navigating through playlists.

Of course, glasses-free 3D has been met with mixed – though generally negative – reactions from the public when companies have tried to use it in mobile devices. The Nintendo 3DS, for instance, has struggled to carve a niche out, despite its relatively unique feature of 3D gameplay, while LG’s attempts to put glasses-free 3D in phones in the shape of the Optimus 3D also failred to spawn a sequel.

One possibility is that by using an eye-tracking system, the 3D effect could be considerably more impressive. Currently glasses-free systems lack precision, and can appear more like layers of stacked images than true 3D. Factoring in more accurate gaze-tracking, however, could improve on that, making a true 3D interface more usable.

If that’s the case, it could be Nokia is using the LED for a focus light, or potentially including it so that the Lumia 928 can use it as a video lamp when recording footage. The Xenon flash is a hotly-anticipated inclusion, a rare addition to a smartphone though one expected to pair well with the 8.7-megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics that Nokia has already confirmed.

Meanwhile, Nokia is also pitting the Lumia 928 against the Galaxy S III in terms of audio performance, testing out the two smartphones for their ability to record natural-sounding soundtracks. The test subject in this case is a subway band, with the new Windows Phone showing a far broader frequency range than its Android rival.

That’s something Nokia has emphasized before, on the 808 PureView, though the Lumia 928 is a whole lot more pocket-friendly than its Symbian predecessor. As per the low-light recording test earlier this week, though, we can’t help but wish that Nokia had pitted its new phone against the HTC One, which itself uses clever microphone technology to improve its audio pick-up.

If all goes to plan, we should expect to see the Lumia 928 officially detailed at a London event Nokia is holding next week, though it appears the Finns are keen to spill some of the headline features in the run-up to that.

According to TechCrunch, the current hold up to closing the deal is where Waze will subsequently be based. Currently, the firm is predominantly located in Israel, though there have apparently been suggestions that it could move to the US, as per previous Facebook acquisitions of Israeli companies.

Waze was the subject of Apple acquisition rumors earlier this year, though if the reported Facebook timescales are true, that speculation was flourishing while Zuckerberg & Co. were already at the negotiating table. No Apple buy-out eventually occurred, though Waze functionality did end up baked into Apple Maps, the Cupertino firm’s homegrown alternative to Google Maps.

Neither Facebook nor Waze will comment on the deal rumors, though the two would make for a reasonable pairing. Waze offers turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones, using crowdsourced traffic and hold-up information to guide users around blocks and delays. Meanwhile, maps are updated by the community, and users share information like gas prices.

Waze already integrates with Facebook to help people find nearby friends, and given Facebook’s recent push – including Facebook Home – into making the most of its growing mobile audience, cementing that by baking Waze into its platform seems a realistic strategy. The social mapping service currently has more than 47m active users, it claims, more than doubling its userbase in less than a year.

Inside, there’s supposedly an Intel Core i5 processor, paired with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. On the back, Sony has slapped on an 8-megapixel camera using one of its Exmor RS sensors, and there’s a backlit keyboard along with NFC.

Other specifications include “ClearAudio+” sound and what Sony is supposedly describing as “ActiveSleep”, a power management technology the company attempted to trademark back in February. The unnamed slider – though we’d hazard a guess at Sony VAIO Duo 13, given its smaller stablemate – will apparently run for up to 10hrs on a single charge.

The video was supposedly filmed during internal training at UK tech retail chain Dixons, according to one NotebookReview forum member. While no release information was given, the uploader claims there should be more details in a couple of weeks time.

[via Engadget]

In one case, in Houston, the US Attorney’s office apparently acquired “contents of stored communications” from an ISP, identity unspecified, without a warrant. The US Attorney’s office in Manhattan issued guidelines to staff that it could achieve the same results with a subpoena rather than a full warrant.

It’s not the first time this year that investigative methods followed by US governments have come in for criticism. Back in March, a California court criticized the FBI for violating First Amendment rights by using so-called “National Security Letters”; by citing national security considerations, the FBI could bypass getting warrants in the traditional manner, and the subject of investigations would not be informed that their data had been shared.

Here, it’s the Fourth Amendment which privacy advocates like the ACLU argue the DOJ and FBI are trampling over. Digital information held by cloud services like Gmail, Dropbox, Facebook, or Twitter should be just as protected as a hard-drive physically located in a suspect’s home, they claim.

One confusing factor is that in many cases email and non-email digital content is treated differently. A 2010 ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, US v. Warshak, left many of the big names in webmail – Gmail and Outlook among them – insisting full warrants for access to emails they store. However, while the Justice Department appears content to comply with that, it has proved less concerned with following full warrant procedures with files such as those stored in Dropbox or Google Drive, or direct messages and IM chat on Twitter and Facebook.

“We really can’t have this patchwork system anymore,” ACLU staff attorney Nathan Wessler concludes, “where agencies get to decide on an ad hoc basis how privacy-protective they’re going to be.” However, moves to pin down the exact legal expectations of the DoJ and FBI have met with opposition, and other proposals to heavily fine companies like Google who do not comply with wiretap orders are also underway.

That’s taking place on May 21, with Microsoft also set to show off a number of launch games alongside the console. Exactly how much detail Microsoft will go into around the new Xbox is unclear – it could well follow Sony’s example, and not actually show off the core hardware itself – but we’re expecting it to open the gates to more titles being demonstrated at E3.

Lucid’s teaser image, meanwhile, would seem to be a heavy-handed nod to a racing game given its “Road Opens 2013″ banner. The UK studio was started by a number of former Bizarre Creations staff, after the Activision-owned firm was shut down at the start of 2011. Rumors back in late 2010 suggested Microsoft was in talks with multiple European studios to try to reboot the Project Gotham Racing series, though since then all has been quiet.

That’s not something the Lucid Games team is doing anything to change, telling Joystiq only that they “can’t say anything at the moment” about the Project Gotham Racing rumors. Nonetheless, it would be a fitting launch-day title: both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 hit shelves with a game from the franchise alongside.

Going by the image, the new racing game – whatever it launches as – will be set in London, UK, at least in part. That’s already been the venue for at least one previous installment of Project Gotham Racing.

[via Autoblog; via Joystiq]

The first of the adverts inserted into the news stream will automatically begin playback without the user having to click the play button, it’s said. However, if they choose to click to turn on audio, the clip will restart from the beginning.

Facebook will supposedly feature trial commercials from members of its advisory client council board, which also includes Unilver, Nestlé, and Diago. The social site established the group in mid-2011, with around twelve sitting members with which it experiments with potential monetization strategies.

In addition to defaulting to a volume-free experience, Facebook will also test the waters with a limited portfolio of ads. At least initially, the site will only show commercial video content from one advertiser in any one day; it will be charging brands “low $20s” per thousand views, whether or not audio was started, the insiders claim.

Although users may well be turned off by the new advertising content, the potential for strong returns may well prove too great for Facebook to resist. The company could see a $1.5m uptick in revenues each day when the system is rolled out, based on initial inventory, it’s said, on top of the existing income from standard image-based adverts.

[via The Inquirer]

BI warns that the tattle comes second-hand, with their source having spoken to someone who supposedly is working on the retail project within Google. However, the idea of bringing Glass out of the lab and right into the public eye seems a likely one, since the concept takes more explaining than a smartphone or tablet.

That public relations smoothing is going to be particularly necessary with something like Glass, which is already prompting privacy concerns given the ease with which wearers can snap photos and video. One common criticism of the headset is that there’s no specific indication when filming is taking place; Google did not include a red light or other notification on the front, for those around the wearer to see, and the only giveaway for video capture is that the eyepiece is active.

As early reactions to Glass in public suggest, there’d be no shortage of visitors to Google’s stores should they ever open their doors. Whether many of those curious enough to step in would actually buy Glass – or, in fact, whether Google would even be offering Glass for sale, depending on where it’s up to with the eventual consumer version – is questionable, however. Google has previously said that it expects the mainstream Glass to be considerably more affordable than the $1,500 of the current Explorer Edition targeted at developers.

Instead the store proposal, if true, could be more about marketing and user research than actual sales, getting the public comfortable with wearables rather than necessarily pushing them to open their wallets. Meanwhile, it would also cement the “Glass” name as the new brand of Android-powered headsets, which would undoubtedly come in useful as Google rolls out its own consumer iteration, or potentially licenses the technology to third-parties like Samsung and others.

Currently, Google invites Explorer Edition buyers to its experience locations in San Francisco and New York City, where they’re fitted for the headset, shown the basic features, and walked through the initial setup of pairing it with a phone and such. Our own Vincent Nguyen picked up one such unit recently; stay tuned for his hands-on impressions over the coming days.

LG’s tablet ambitions were scuppered in 2012, when the company confirmed it would sideline its slate plans so as to focus instead on smartphones. Its Optimus Pad failed to gain traction, and fellow Android device OEMs pushed prices low to undercut Apple’s iPad.

Since then, however, we’ve seen Windows 8/RT arrive, as well as some success among Android devices, fueled in no small part by the low-cost Nexus 7 ASUS manufactures for Google. Meanwhile, we’ve also seen some movement in the high-end Android tablet world, with high-res options like Samsung’s Nexus 10 out-performing the iPad’s Retina Display in terms of pixel density.

That might pave the way for LG to use some of its display arm’s homegrown screen talents. Back at CES, LG Display showed off a 7-inch, 324ppi 1920 x 1200 tablet panel, among others, which seems ideally suited for a small tablet rival to the much-speculated iPad mini with Retina Display.

Of course, there’s not only Android to consider. LG could also opt for Windows 8 or Windows RT, joining a relatively limited market of tablets running Microsoft’s platform. Whether the potential rewards for taking on Microsoft’s own Surface are considered rich enough for LG remains to be seen, however.

[via TechEye]

According to what was reportedly some brief hands-on time with the FuelBand 2, Nike has fettled the speed that the LEDs react, meaning the band shows data more swiftly than the existing version. The use of Bluetooth 4.0, just as on the Fitbit Flex we reviewed earlier this week, means longer battery life, and Nike has apparently built in auto-synchronization too.

However, Bluetooth 4.0′s potential for always-on connectivity without draining the battery too quickly means that Nike can apparently open up the FuelBand 2′s sensor stream to other software. The updated API will include accelerometer data, it’s claimed, so that games and other apps can track user movements and positioning and use them for control and other features.

Meanwhile, there’s also said to be a heart rate monitor – selected from an option on the band, and used by pinching the sensor against your wrist – and the ability to check battery status from the FuelBand 2 itself. Whereas Nike said back in February it had no plans to release an Android app, the current word supposedly from the company’s campus is that an app for Google’s OS is, in fact, in the pipeline.

Nike launched the first Nike+ FuelBand back in early 2012, one of the first wrist-worn activity monitoring gadgets to reach the market. Since then, it has seen rival devices from Fitbit and Jawbone, among others, though Nike has resolutely stuck to its premium pricing: the FuelBand costs $150, versus the sub-$100 tag on the newest Fitbit Flex, for instance. Exactly when the new FuelBand might launch is unknown, and it’s unclear if it will have features not unofficially previewed, such as sleep tracking as supported on both the UP and Flex.

The URL mentioned in the advert – nokia.com/lumia928 – is, surprisingly, already active, though there’s less detail to be found than in the print version. The image is the same, aside from the Verizon logo being absent, and there are no specifications; however, the filename of the image itself does confirm that this is the Lumia 928.

Chatter of the Lumia 928 has been circulating for some time now, with early talk of an aluminum chassis and a more squared off design than the Lumia 920 that the phone is presumed to be based upon. Like the 920, the 928 is expected to use a 4.5-inch display, though there has been talk of Nokia using AMOLED panel technology rather than the ClearBlack LCD of the older device.

Nokia will hold a Lumia event on May 14, though given that will be in London it would imply that either the Lumia 928 is intended for regions beyond Verizon’s coverage, or that the phone will be the support act for another, more broadly available phone. That could well be the device believed to be codenamed EOS, a more photography-centric handset that, so the speculation suggests, could have a waterproof aluminum coating.

Waterproofing may well be something Nokia is looking to push in its new 2013 line-up. The beach photography shown in this Lumia 928 commercial could be a hint that the phone will have a weather-resistant casing.

There’s also apparently a fixed, non-user-accessible 1,800 mAh battery, together with 2GB of memory and 8GB of storage. The display apparently runs at 720 x 720 resolution, just as per the BlackBerry Q10, and runs BlackBerry 10.1 OS.

So far we’ve seen the R10 leak in black, white, and red, which suggests either BlackBerry is having some fun with its color schemes or, alternatively, the company will be offering multiple colors at retail. Given the BlackBerry R10 is presumed to be the BlackBerry 10 equivalent of a Curve-series phone, that would make sense for the youth market traditionally keen on Curve variants.

Although touchscreen text-entry has found favor on most platforms, and indeed BlackBerry 10 itself has a refined on-screen system for the Z10, the Canadian company is reluctant to step away completely from physical ‘boards. Expectations for the Q10 are high, within BlackBerry at least, with ambitions of “tens of millions” of the phone being sold.

[via MobileSyrup]

If, though, this was the next-gen Nexus, or “Nexus 5″, the positioning of the LG logo would be a minor coup for the manufacturer. On the current Nexus 4, the fascia of the phone is completely logo-free, with the only mention of LG and Google on the back panel.

Of course, that could also mean that this is the LG Optimus G2, the oft-rumored successor to the Optimus G. That phone was functionally all but identical to the Nexus 4 inside, differing only really with branding (and pricing); since Google and LG are said to have renewed their Nexus collaboration and already be working on the fifth phone of the series, the same internal components in this prototype might – if authentic – end up in both handsets.

Estimates of scale suggest the mysterious phone is around 5.5-inches, which would be a considerable step up from the 4.7-inches of the current Nexus 4 and Optimus G. It would also put it on a par with the display size of the newer Optimus G Pro; indeed, one possibility is that this device is a variant of the G Pro, complete with the slightly curved glass that we know from the Nexus 4.

Should Google opt to refresh the Nexus line more imminently, that would break the roughly year-long lifecycle of the previous phones. However, it would also give the company a high-profile handset to reveal at Google I/O, as well as a time advantage over the next-gen iPhone which isn’t expected until later in 2013.

[via Android Community]

The Acer W3-810-1600 is an 8.1-inch tablet with a resolution the same as the Nexus 7 – 1,280 x 800 – running Windows 8. According to the specs list, inside users will find a 1.5GHz A4 processor and 2GB of RAM, as well as 32GB of internal storage space. Graphics come by way of Intel GMA, and the battery has a 3500mAh capacity with a reported charge life of 8 hours.

The only connectivity feature listed is 802.11b/g/n – no mention of Bluetooth. There’s a rear webcam with a decent 2-megapixels, and the entire unit measures in at 8.62 x 5.31 x 0.45-inches with a weight of 1.1-pounds. The color for the device is silver – it is possible there could be other color options, but only time will tell.

And finally, there’s the price: $379.99. While it isn’t the cheapest tablet out there, the price tag is nothing unusual for a slate, and it is important to remember that it runs full-blown Windows 8, not the less-than-consumer-embraced Windows RT. There’s nothing else to speak of on the device for now, but if the rumors prove true, we should start hearing about the slate – or others like it – by this fall.

[via PC Magazine]

A cluster of renders expected to closely resemble the final coupe have been dug up as part of a design patent Jaguar filed ahead of the car’s expected 2014 release, Germany car site Auto Motor & Sport reports. Things don’t deviate too far from the C-X16, thankfully, with a tapering rear window that notches in crisply with the distinctive light clusters.

It’ll be a handsome beast in profile, too, if the patent CGI is anything to go by. One of the concerns had been how the relatively flat trunk lid of the convertible F-Type might work with the extra metal of a coupe, but Jaguar’s design team has handled that well.

By starting out with a drop-top and only bringing a coupe on later, Jaguar claimed it was making sure both would have the sort of on-the-road dynamics that drivers expect from a two-seater. Curb weight for the coupe isn’t known, but given the car company opted for a fabric hood rather than a folding metal roof – arguing that it helped keep the center of gravity low – there may not be the common difference between the two versions.

As well as the photos, the car site also claims to have heard that Jaguar will be offering a different engine option alongside the supercharged 3.0-liter V6 and supercharged 5.0-liter V8 already announced. A 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, the new engine is borrowed from the Range Rover Evoque – albeit with some fettling involved in the process – and should help bring the cost of entry to F-Type ownership down to less than the $69,000 starting point that preorders opened at.

[via Jalopnik]

Google’s more recent Nexus releases have stuck to a roughly yearly refresh cycle, though given the fast pace of the smartphone market, there’s no guarantee that the Nexus timetable will stay the same. Nonetheless, demand for the Nexus 4 remains strong, with Google and LG struggling at times over the past months to produce sufficient stock to meet orders.

If the collaboration rumors are true, it means LG would become the second firm to have two successive Nexus projects. While HTC worked with Google on the first device, the Nexus One, it was replaced in that role by Samsung, who developed the Nexus S and then the Galaxy Nexus.

LG then took Samsung’s position for the Nexus 4, creating a device – built mainly to the pattern of the existing LG Optimus G – that was sold at an ambitious $299 off-contract, as Google attempted to ween smartphone users off of their carrier dependence. Samsung instead contributed the Nexus 10 tablet.

One possibility is that the new Nexus could follow LG’s even larger new smartphone, the Optimus G Pro, though with that handset’s sizable 5.5-inch display, it’s possible some would-be buyers might find it simply too large. Specifications for the device are yet to leak.

Meanwhile, LG is also believed to be talking with Google about the potential for an OLED Google TV, as well as more “futuristic projects as part of the big picture” in consumer electronics. That could include wearables like Google Glass, sources suggest.

[via AndroidBeat]

Chatter of just how much of a challenge the mobile overhaul was turning out to be peaked earlier this week, with unofficial reports from inside Apple suggesting that the extent of the company’s plans may force a staggered release of sorts. As well as aiming to change the aesthetics of iOS, chief designer Jony Ive is also believed to be looking to rework certain core apps, including email and calendar.

Whether those refreshes would be ready in time for the main iOS 7 release was unclear, the insiders pointed out, with some concerns that their arrival might be pushed back into 2014.

So as to avoid any delay – though, to be fair, Apple hasn’t yet pegged a public release date on iOS 7 – the company has been “borrowing” engineers from the Mac team to work on the iOS project. It’s a move that has some history; Apple did the same back in 2007, shifting OS X coders to the iOS 5 team so as to meet its deadlines for that release, too.

The end result may well be worth waiting for, though. Though iPhone and iPad sales have remained impressive, there has been a growing call for the company to look at the cleaner, less fussy examples set by rival platforms and reconsider its wood- and leather-effect designs, which attempt to mimic real-world materials or devices, in most cases unnecessarily.

iOS 7, therefore, will be “de-glitzed” according to one unnamed source, with elements like the green-felt finish in Game Center to be removed in favor of a more authentic finish. That’s also been described as “a much-needed ‘de-Forstallization” by another source, referring to former interface chief Scott Forstall who left the company in 2012, and who was known as a strong supporter of skeuomorphic design.

Exactly what parts of iOS 7 will be ready for WWDC in June 2013 remain to be seen. If the preview takes the same form as in previous years, however, Apple will likely pick ten key features to highlight and save the rest until closer to release.